I’m honored to be asked to write a series on Home Improvement Lead Generation Marketing. May I introduce myself? I’m John Clements, a Direct Response Lead Generation Marketing professional who has specialized in the Home Improvement/Services industry for over 10 years at the senior marketing level.

That’s nice, you might be saying, but how’s that going to help me get more leads and increase both my revenues and profits? Between offering this series and receiving your comments back to me, it’s my goal that we all expand our lead generation knowledge – that should increase your leads, your revenue, and your profits. Even if you only implement a couple of ideas and you increase your business, you’ll be ahead, right?

The topics I’ve selected are: (more…)

Communicate. Relate. Manage.

The most integral part of any successful relationship is communication. Ask any man or woman, business executive or not. This ancient rule of communication and relationships is equally relevant to construction and it shows throughout the industry, according to a recent article in Qualified Remodeler.

In that article, several general contractors were surveyed about managing trade contractors and how to successfully do that. Of course, communication took top billing. But there are some different approaches to achieving good communication with and between subcontractors. Communication is facilitated by everybody talking at once, there are important steps to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and issues addressed without upsetting the flow of work. Here are a few tips on making this happen:

• Some remodelers schedule regular meetings between project managers and all trade contractors on site and make it a point to communicate daily with each sub individually.
• Some use a three-ring binder to track and organize progress, others prefer new, Web-based project management tools.
• All use whatever means is necessary to keep open, proactive lines of communication, be it phone, email, or personal.

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